Valentine's Day at the Reaper Dispatch
by Tr3kki3chick
Summary: Eric is a bumbling idiot and somehow, Alan finds a way to put up with that. Fluff. That is all.


Valentine's Day had been listed under 'frivolous' by Director Spears, along with such things as 'secret Santas,' riding down the stairs on one's scythe - this one had a thickly underlined word next to it: KNOX. - and any gift giving. (Thankfully, there hadn't been enough room on the list for William's unreasonably heated rant about how birthdays for Shinigami were illogical, considering that they were created rather than born, and lived forever, making it impractical to get a gift every year.) However, this sternly-worded list did not abolish 'frivolous' behaviours so much as give certain employees ideas about how best to irritate their boss.

Grell Sutcliff, for one, spends February 14th each year dressed very scantily and very red.

Ronald attaches streamers of paper hearts to his lawnmower and rides it around the office.

Eric sleeps with whoever will hold still long enough.

Valentine's day infuriated William, but not just him. Perhaps the most irritating part to poor Alan were the flowers. Yes, he liked them, but just to look at, not when they made him sneeze. And Eric's desk was frankly overflowing.

In the mortal world, only the males gave flowers. For reapers, with so much more variety in the couples, it made more sense for EVERYONE to exchange flowers. And incidentally, 'everyone' was exactly who seemed to send Eric flowers.

He got tulips and carnations and all sorts of roses from General Affairs, several bunches of jonquils and narcissus from Spectacles, and a single white lily from some mysterious member of management. Grell's single red rose sat on top, adorned with a crimson ribbon. Ronald's cleverly disguised poison ivy had been confiscated by an even cleverer (and rather irate by that point) William T. Spears.

Alan hadn't been brave enough. Almost everyone in the office but him had gotten flowers for his handsome mentor, but Alan hadn't given or received any. All he could do was sit across from the cloud of pollen that was Eric's desk and sniffle miserably.

This had happened every year since he met Eric. Alan had been harbouring feelings for him for ages, since he first became Eric's junior. It had gone from a crush to full blown adoration to, perhaps, love. But his mentor had never reciprocated his feelings, or at least, never flirted with Alan any more than he flirted with anyone else. Perhaps less.

His only consolation was that, to date, Eric had never gotten flowers for anyone else in the office. "Don't wanna make th'ladies jealous, y'know?" he had laughed with Alan several years before. "It'd clean me out t'get flowers for everyone that did for me."

Alan snickered at the thought. There were always a few of Eric's admirers that felt slighted by this, but it gave him a selfish sort of happiness to know that the other man didn't care enough about any of his flings in particular. If any of them really meant anything to Eric, Alan was sure he'd enjoy Valentine's day even less.

Which was why his face fell as Eric walked into the office, late and nervously hiding a large bouquet behind his back. Turning back to his papers, Alan ignored his partner as he brushed flowers off his desk and chair to create space, and collapsed into the seat with a huff.

"Did Spears notice I wasn't here?" Eric asked, clearly not noticing Alan's sour face. Not that he could see much over the immense stack of flowers. He used one arm to sweep the remainder of them from the front of his desk, wincing guiltily as Alan sneezed again and sniffled unhappily.

"No," the brunette replied thickly, covering his face with a handkerchief. "I told him you were filing papers. He's a bit distracted anyway." Wryly gesturing to the mass of reds and whites and pinks on the floor, Alan added, "It is Valentine's Day, if you hadn't noticed."

Eric didn't laugh. He was looking at his own bouquet with furrowed eyebrows, pensive. Upon seeing it closer, Alan raised his own eyebrows, standing and crossing over around Eric's desk for a better view. "Eric, is that…a tree branch?"

"It's arbutus," the blond replied defensively, gesturing helplessly. He was holding about ten types of mismatched flowers, all different colours. "It's s'posed to mean 'thee only do I love.' Bit silly, now I'm thinkin' of it."

Appraising the bunch, Alan realized that each blossom had a separate meaning in the language of flowers. Gardenias meaning 'you're lovely', pink camellias meaning 'longing for you', azaleas meaning 'take care of yourself for me.' The younger man looked down at the bouquet with a mixture of amusement and dismay. It was so very Eric: incredibly heartfelt, if fumbling.

The brunette cleared his throat, smiling reluctantly. "I didn't know you'd ever listened when I talked about the language of flowers," he teased halfheartedly, looking back up at his partner. "Who's it for?"

Eric swallowed, uncharacteristically bashful, then took a deep breath and shoved the chaotic bunch into Alan's arms, nearly making him stumble. "Who else'd understand them all?" the larger man muttered, turning back to his work and looking flustered.

Alan, personally, was rather stunned. And wondering if it was a joke. But then…why would Eric's cheeks have gone pink, and why would his shoulders be tense as if he was gearing up for rejection? "Eric…?" he murmured, catching sight of a red chrysanthemum and blushing. 'I love you.' Oh.

"Eric," Alan started again, gathering up his courage. "I-I-" And he sneezed. His face snapped forwards into the flowers, coming away covered in yellow pollen, courtesy of several squished calla lilies. Eric couldn't do anything but laugh, looking up at his poor disgruntled junior.

Pouting, Alan waited for him to stop chuckling and stand, still grinning. "Don't laugh at me Eric, it's not funny!" The effect was lessened when he sneezed again, now looking grumpy as he set down the bouquet on Eric's desk.

The other man smiled down at the brunette, looking far more sure of himself than he had a moment ago, and brushed pollen off Alan's face to reveal his blushing cheeks. Without hesitation, Eric covered his partner's renewed stammering with an insistent kiss - that said more to each of them than the language of flowers ever could - and made them both come away gasping for breath. Eric's smile returned as he watched Alan struggle to recompose himself, still holding onto him tightly, and he chuckled, "You're adorable, y'know."

"…I love you too, Eric."

Now it was the larger man's turn to look surprised as Alan leaned up for another kiss, murmuring, "And Happy Valentines Day."


End file.
